ET1: Doherty Ends Maximum Wait

Congratulations to Ireland’s Ken Doherty, who today made the 90th maximum break in professional competition and the first of his 22-year professional career.

The max came during frame three of his 4-0 victory against Germany’s Julian Treiber, and provided it is not equalled during the remaining two days of the event, will earn the former world champion £1,500 from the rolling prize fund…

As Ken told World Snooker however (see the video interview on the right), it is not about the money, but is a feather in the cap for a player who as a former world champion and multiple ranking event winner, had not quite been able to make a competitive 147 break, most famously coming close at the Masters before ‘that’ missed black.

Maximum aside, it has been an excellent day for the Irishman as he also defeated Stephen Lee and Yu Delu to make it through to Sunday’s last 16 stage. Elsewhere, Welshmen Jamie Jones and Ryan Day both made it through today and will meet on Sunday, while Pankaj Advani continued from where he left off in Sheffield earlier in the week, by winning his three matches today, including a 4-1 victory against four-time world champion John Higgins.

Others to make it through include Mark King and new professional Robbie Williams (three terrific wins against top 32 opposition), while Mark Selby is currently doing battle with top 16 chasing Mark Davis as he attempts to kickstart his season. In the previous round, Davis won a potentially pivotal match with Ali Carter, who is also hoping for a swift return to the top 16 having fallen out at the end of last season.